Cigarette package



Sept. 28, 1943. I Ff woD ET AL 2,330,772

- CIGARE'TTE PACKAGE Filed June 12, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet l Ems A Mwmnd JOSfPHJMfl/IL Sept. 28, 1943. F WODAL ET AL 2,330,772

CIGARETTE PACKAGE Filed June 12, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 H mm fkAn/(M MD/ILanch/OJZPH/WUM P 8, 1943. F. A. WODAL ET AL CIGARETTE PACKAGE Filed June 12, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIR/W05 A; WODALand Jam/J WODAL Patented Sept. 28, 1943 A UNITED STATES m: OFFICE;

Francis A:

would, causes, and Joseph J. Wodal,

West Collingswood'; N: J.

Application une12, 1941; semi 1e.- 397175'4 v ciaim'ei- (01. 229- 51) The present invention relates to cigarettepackages ingeneral, and it relates moreparticularly to a new and improved cigarette package made of sheet material constructed and arranged to be readily-torn" open along some predeterminedre ular zone to provide quick'and easy'access tothe enclosed cigarettes.

One'of the objects of the present inventionis: to provide a cigarette package of 'the' aforesaid character which may be conveniently and easily torn open by the consumer along-itsipredetere mined tear-zone without requiring the exercise of'any special care or effort.

Another object of the present invention is' to] provide acigarette package having the'a'foresaid' advantages and which yet fully and adequately seals in the enclosed cigarettes and protects their: tobacco content against dryness, loss 'ofaroma' o'r the like; and keeps said cigarettes fresh and flavorful. Y

along" a definite 'preaet rmmed ene: substantially easement with the adj acentnpper edge' portion o i the package as the'tab'isipulledfoutwardly, thereby to provide means for quick and eaey'eeee'sste' the -enclosed eigerettes" through a regular substantially even-edged top'bpening.

For"the" purpose of illustrating the invention, ther'are' shown in the accompanying drawings" forms meteor which areat present preferred;

sincethe same 'hjave beenfound in practice to give satisfactory and7reliable results, although it is to be understood that the various instrum'm taliltiesj'offwhichthe' invention consists can be variously arranged ncf rgamz uend that the invention is not'limited to triepreeisearreng'emeritsand rganizations or the'ins't rurnentalities A further object of the present invention isto:

provide a handy cigarette package whichyaftei'r once having been opened as aforesaid',may th'ere'-i after repeatedly be readily securely closed, and

easily opened, as'frequently' as nece'ssary :the

package'in its closed" states affording full" and." adequate protection to the cigarettes, and in'its' open states permitting quick and easyextra'ction of cigarettes therefrom} and at all tinies' tendin toretain its original shape;

Another object of the present invention is t'o? provide a cigarette package having thefore'going advantageous features and which 'yet requiresf'no more material or elements for its" make' up' than currently-go into the manufacture "of un'iinpr'oveirlg cigarette packages now on the market, which may be made for substantially the samecost a's the unimproved packages, and which is of simple construction.

With the above and other objects in'vievlfi which? asherein shown and described Reierr irigltoithe drawings wherein like refer ence characters indicate like parts:

Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a closedoneQtabfcigarette package, constituting an illustrative embodiment of the present invention.'

Figure? representsa view showing the packa e" of Figure 1 after it has been partially opened at ropi r' frsn e upwardly. o mun-ab- Figure} represents a view showing how the partially opened package of Figure 2 maybe effectively and securely reclosed by having" its pull-tabj folded downward andtucked in against i the adjacent upper side wall portion of the pack- Figure f1 represents an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional View of the tucked-in pull-tab portion of the package shown in Figure 3, taken generally on line 4-4 thereof,- 1ooking in the direction of the arrows. V I

Figure 1- 5 represents a fragmentary perspective view of tlfie jupper'portion of a slightly modified closedOneFtab:cigarettepackage, having the pulltab 'D0rt1'dh"the're0f initially folded to extend" vertically downward alongthe outsideisurface of the up'p er' side Wall portion of the package, rather than horizontally along the top wall of the: pack-j age-e in the Figure 1 embodiment. I V Figur'e fi represents a fragmentary perspective view of the 'upper portion of aclosed two-tab" cigarttepackage constituting another illus'tra tive embodiment of 'the p'res'ent invention;

Figure '7 represents a perspective view showing l'iow-the 'blank -from which the package is made may be foldedaround a'compact group of ciga-.

rettes'to providethe four vertical walls of the package:

Figure" 8 represents 'a fragmentary perspective View showing 5. how the projecting upper margin tab.

7 paper.

of the folded blank of Figure '7 may be folded down over the cigarette ends at the tab-less side of the-one-tab top illustrated in Figures 1 and 5.

Figure 9 shows a two-ply blank of sheet material having a corner portion of one of its plies rolled back better to reveal the weakening line of perforations provided along that zone which later marks the junction of the package side walls with thetop.' fi 1 Figure 10 represents a much enlarged fragmentary sectional perspective view through the weakened zone of the two-ply blank illustrated in Figure 9, such as would be seen for example on line ll9 of Figure 9, looking in the direction of the arrows. V Figure 11 represents a similar view showin how both the plies may be perforated to provide the weakened tear-zone.

Figure 12 represents a similar view taken through a somewhat modified construction wherein one of the plies is scored along the desired line of. tear. I I

' Figure 13 represents a similar view taken through thetear-zone of a scored one-ply blank of sheet material. l g

Figure l l'shows a similar sectional view taken through the tear zoneof a two-ply blank of sheet material, each ply being inherently of such weak nature as to tear readily along the fold zone extending around the basal portion of the pull- The particular cigarette package constituting the embodiment illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 includes an inner jacket, 20, completely encasing the contained cigarettes, and aprotective outer jacket'ZI which is open at its upper end and provides access to the top portion of the inner jack-' et 28. The outer jacket 2i may be constructed from a rectangular blank 'of relatively strong" papersnugly wrapped around the front, side and rear walls of the inner jacket 20, with its end portions overlapped and adhesively secured to gether along a vertically extending seam line at the rear of the package. Theheight of the blank fromwhich the outer jacket 2! is made preferably exceeds the overall height of the completed package by anamount sufficient to provide, when the upper edge 22 of said jacket is in approximate registration with the top levelo'f the finished package, a downwardly-depending marginal portion of sufficient length to form a complete bottom wall for said jacket when turned in under the lower ends of the enclosed cigarettes;

The opposed depending lower marginal por-' tions of the front and rear walls of jacketZl may be turned in last and adhesively secured together in overlapped relation thereby to hold all inturned lower marginal portions, including those extending from the side walls of jacket 2!, in their bottom-forming positions. e

The inner casing 20 may be formed from a regtangular blank 23 which, as illustratedv in Figprovide. a regular even-edged openingat. the top of the package through which the enclosed cigarettes may be extracted.

This pre-weakening of ply 25 along fold line 26 may be accomplished in any suitable manner as for example by perforating the paper along said line as illustrated in enlarged detail at 27 in Figures and 11, or by scoring the paper along score-line 28 as illustrated in Figures 12 and '13- If desired, the outer tinfoil ply 24 may alsobe perforated along said fold line as shown at 29 in Figure 11 to facilitate the tearing operation, although in view of the relative thinness of ply 24 and the ease with which it may be torn even when left intact, this latter feature may be dispensed with, as is the case in the embodiment illustrated in Figures 9 and 10. I

If desired, the blank from which the inner jacket may be formed may consist of only I a single sheet of material such as paper or parch- 20 ment, which may either be perforated as at 21,

or scored as shown at 28 in Figure 13, or otherwise suitably pre-weakened along its said fold line tofacilitate subsequent tearing therealong. It will be noted that with the arrangements shown in Figures 10, 12 and 13, the enclosed cigarettes will be eifectively sealed-in, there being no communication with the atmosphere along the pre-weakened fold line as in the embodiment shown in Figure 11.

30 In some instances where the backing ply 25 is made of some thin inherently easily-tearable short-grained paper, the aforesaid pre-weakening of fold line 26 may be dispensed with, as illustrated in Figure 14, and the paper merely 5 folded. along said line as subsequently described. Upon initiation of the tearing operation, this paper will then tear along fold-line 26 by reason of the existence of the crease or fold therealong, and because of the fact that the angularly related top and side wall portions of the cigarette package meet at said line, resulting in a progressive concentration of stresses therealong during the tearing operation.

As shown more particularly in Figures 7 to 9 inclusive, the blank 23 extends completely around a rectangularly-arranged group of cigarettes 30 forming rear, side, front and side panels 3| to 34 inclusive,,.;respectivelybounded by the vertical fold lines '35 to 38 inclusive located at the four vertical corners of the jacket. The vertical marginal portions of the blank 23 may be overlapped at'the rear panel 3| to form a vertical seam 39, where they may be adhesively secured together, or left unattached, as desired. If left unattachedthe outer jacket 2| will restrain the inner jacket 20 from unfolding.

The vertical height and arrangement of the jacket: blank 23 relative to the cigarettes 30 are preferably such as to provide projecting upper and lower marginal portions 40 and 4| respectively, each integral with the main panels 3| to inclusive, and adopted to be folded over the upper and lower cigarette ends thereby completely to enclose the cigarettes. The tear-zone 26 is preferably located in the plane which bounds the upper ends of the cigarettes 30, with sufficient material extending thereabove to insure that the relatively long sections of the upper margin 40 which are co-extensive with the front and rear panels will overlap when folded down over-the upper cigarette ends. Similarly the lower margin 4| is also preferably'wide enough to overlap when turned in under the lower ends of. the cigarettes.

-In-,turning in the lower marginal portion 4|,

age-We tively short portions. bounding the s ide panels 3 2Qandj34'maybe turned-in, orvice-versa'. In either case the bottom portion of the subsequently-applied snugly-fitting outer jacket 21 WiIIlreStrain these inturnedlower marginal portiers from i unfolding. l

The upperrrnarginalportion All} may heralded- Thusa for.- example, the, single-tab cigarette package illustratedin Figure 1 maybe formed by rirs' t; folding down the relatively short portion 42 of? the upper marginal, portion 4!! folded down either in, a counter-clockwise-direction into the top-paralleling horizontal position. illustratedin, Figure 1, or 1111a cleckwise direction into the side paralleling verticalpositiori' shownin Figure 5.

Iii" either case, however, the maybe quickly and easily. openedto provide access'to the enclosed'cigarettes by merely grasping, the triangular pull tabflfi between ones thumb and index finger "and then pulling said tab awayfrom the body of the package, preferably, in anlupwarddirection. The jack'et2ll'will part" along its relatively weak tear-zone 26-which bounds the top portion of the jacket, enabling, the consumer to rip, up the top portion of said jacket and' expose the enclosed cigarettes, as illustrated in"Figure 21 I In this connection itwill be noted that'the pull-tab 45, although weakly connected'with the upper edge of the side panel 32,1053; reason oftheexistence of tear-zone 26) is neverthe1ess securely connected with the adjoining top-forming marginal portions Q3 and ddwithwhich it bears fullintegral relationship,

sothat'wh'en' pulled outwardly, pull-tab 45 will readily, part from the side panel 32; but firmly carry alongjwith it the top portion of 'thejack'et.

Thetab-lifted .top portion can beentirely torn awaytoexpose all the cigarettes at once, or if desired only a fractional portion of the top may bejpulled up (preferably tearingfat'least aportiomofthe revenue stamp "46) and the cigarettes extracted through theirelatively smaller opening'left thereby. The remaining cigarettes, if any, may conveniently be protected ,by tucking the triangular pull-tab 45' down either inside the upper end portion of side-wall 32 of the inner jacket as illustratedfin Figures 3 and 4, or by slipping it in between this ide wall 32"and the juktaposed'portion ofthe outer jacket 2!. In'

either case, however, the package will be relatively securely closed and will not only afford ample protection to-the remaining cigarettes, keeping-rthem fresh and preventing any, loss of moisture content, but will also tend to retain its rectanguIarshape andresist collapsing .or hat tening: out-at its .openedportion. r

If: desired, the pre-weakened tearezonelii may extend: im n l= wi l pa twa r u cigarette package 10, down over the upper cigar'etteendsirra variety of. ways rtoi provide the readily accessible integral pull-tab, meansnwhich characterize the present thetop of, the-package and may terminate ,for example somewhere underneath the revenue stamp 46,1 so that only half Tofth'e package top can 1 be pulled open-for removal of cigarettes.

In the embodiment, illustrated 'in Figure 6,}the

upper marginal portions 43 and 44 are folded down beforethe end portion 42of Figure 8, thereby.-;providing asecondtriangular pull-tab portionw lfiz onthe left side ofthepackage. This afiords'atwo-tab construction by. means of which" opened from either the cigarette package "mayibe Side. ,V I Q The present invention may be embodied other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof," andit is therefore desired that the present-embodiments be considered in all respects asillustrative and not restrictive, freference being had to the appendedclaims rather than to the foregoing de-,- scription to indicate the scopeofithe invention;

Having thus described'the invention, 'whatis hereby claimed as new and desired to be secured by'Letters Patent is: l r

1 A cigarette package of the character described-including a rectangular blank of two-ply material, oneof said plies bearing a straight continuous line ofperforations adjacent and paral leling one of the longer edges of said blank, said line of perforations extending uninterruptedlyacrossthe full width of said blank from one edge thereof to the other, said blank being folded margin bordering said panels and projecting'beyond the upper ends of said cigarettes, said margin being devoid of any traversing lines of perforations and being folded along the aforesaid line of perforations for the most part down over the upper ends of said cigarettes, the'marginal portion bordering a side panel being folded down subsequent to the downfolding' of the marginal portions bordering the front and rear panels'to provide an integral readily manually-graspable pull-tab, whereby by outward pull exerted-on saidpull-tab as much or as little of the aforesaid margin as desired may be quickly and easily torn away from said panels to provide aneven-edged rectangularly-shaped regular top opening'having at leastthree of its sides coinciding with edges of said package top through which top open ing said cigarettes may be extracted.

2. A' cigarette package of the character described including a rectangular blank of material bearing a straight continuous line of perforations adjacent and paralleling one of the longer edges of said blank, said line of perforations extending uninterruptedly across the full width of said blankfrom one edge thereof to the other, said blank being folded around a group-of cigarettesto form front, rear and side panels, with the aforesaid, line of perforations substantially. coinciding with the upper ends of cigarettes so that the materialinter nediate said line of perforations and the adjacent parallel edge of said blank provides an upper margin bordering said panels and projecting beyond the upper ends of said cigarettes, said margin being devoid of anytravlersing lines of perforations and being folded along the aforesaid line of perforations for the,

rettes, the marginal portion bordering a side panel being folded down subsequent to the downward pull exerted on said pull-tab as much or as little of the aforesaid margin as desired may be" quickly and easily torn away from said panels to provide "an even-edged rectangularly-shaped regular top opening having at least three of 'its sides coinciding with edges of said package top through which top opening said cigarettes may beextracted. M

3. A cigarette 'package of the character described including a rectangular blank of sheet material having a straight line'of scoring adjacent and paralleling one of thelonger edges of said blank, said line 'of scoring extending uninterruptedly across the full ,width'of said blank from one edge'thereof to the other, said blank being folded around a group of cigarettes to form front, rear and side panels, with the aforesaid line of scoring substantially coinciding with the u per ends of cigarettes so thatthe material intermediate said line of scoring and the adjacent parallel edge of said blank provides an upper margin bordering-saidpanels and projecting beyond the upper ends of said cigarettes, said margin being devoid of any traversing lines of scoring may be quickly and easily torn away from said panels to provide an even-edged rectangularlyshaped regular top opening having at least three of its sides coinciding with edges of said package top through whichtop opening said cigarettes maybe extracted.

4.'A cigarette package of the character described including a rectangular blank of sheet material having a well-defined pre-weakened straight tear-line adjacent and paralleling one of the longer'edges of said blank, said tear-line extending uninterruptedly across the full width of said blank from one edge thereof to the other, said blank being folded around a group of cigarettes to formfront, rear and side panels, with the aforesaid tear-line substantially coinciding with the upper ends of said cigarettes so that the material intermediate said tear-line and the. adjacent parallel edge of said blank provides an upper margin bordering said panels and projecting-beyond the upper ends of said cigarettes, said margin being devoid of any traversing tear-lines,

and being folded along the aforesaid tear-line for ilttle of the aforesaid margin as desired may be quickly and easily torn away from said panels to provide an even-edged rec'tangularly-shapedregular top opening having atleast three of its sides coinciding with edges of'said package top, through 2,330,772 1 most part down over the/upper ends of saidclga whichtopopening said cigarettes may bB'BX- tractedid 5. A cigarette package of the character described including a" rectangular blank of sheet material relatively weak'and easily tearable along a straight tear-zone adjacent and paralleling one of the longer edges of said blank and extending uninterruptedly across the full width of said blank from one edge thereof to the other said blankbeing folded around a group of cigarettes to form front, rear and side panels, with the aforesaid tear-zone substantially coinciding with the upper ends of said cigarettes so that the'inaterial intermediate said tear-zone and the adjacent paralleledge of "said blank provides an upper mar gin bordering said panels and projecting beyond the upper ends of'said cigarettes, said margin being devoid of any traversing tear-zones, and being folded along the aforesaid tear-zone for the most part down over the upper ends of said cigarettes, the marginal portions bordering the side panels being folded down subsequent to the downfolding of the marginal portions bordering the front and rear panels to provide a pair of integral readily manually-graspable pull-tabs dis posed one at either side of the package top, whereby by outward pull exerted on either one ofsaid pull-tabs,'as much or as little of the aforesaid margin as desired may be quickly and easily torn away from said panels from either side of said top to provide an even-edged rectangularly-shaped regular top opening having at least three of its sides coinciding with edges of said package top, through which top opening said cigarettes may be extracted.

6. A cigarette package of the characterdescribed including a rectangular blank of sheet I material relatively weak and easily tearable along a straight tear-zone adjacent and paralleling one of the longer edges of said blank and extending uninterruptedly across the full width of said blank from one edge thereof to the other, said blank being folded around a group of cigarettes l to form front, rear and side panels, with the aforesaid tear-zone substantially coinciding with the upper ends of said cigarettes so thatthe material intermediate said tear-zone and the adjacent parallel edge of saidblank provides an upper margin bordering said panels and projecting beyond the upper ends of said cigarettes, said margin being devoid of any traversing tear-zones, and being folded along the aforesaid tear-zone for the most part down over the upper ends of 1 said cigarettes, the marginal portion bordering a sidelpanel being folded down subsequent to the downfolding of the marginal portions bordering the front and rear panels to provide an integral readily manually-graspable pull-tab, whereby by V outward pull exerted on said pull-tab, as much or as little of the aforesaid margin as desired may bequickly and easily torn away from said panels,

to provide an even-edged rectangularly-shaped regular top opening having at least three of its sides coinciding with edges of said package top, through which top opening said cigarettes may be extracted.

7. A cigarette package of the character described including a rectangular blank of sheet material relatively weak and easilytearable along a straight tear-zone adjacent and paralleling one of the longer edges of said blank and extending uninterruptedly across the full width of said blank from one edge thereof to the other, said blank being folded around a group of cigarettes to form front,rear and side panels, with the aforeu said tear-zone substantially-coinciding with the upper ends of said cigarettes so that the material intermediate said tear-zone and the adjacent parallel edge of said blank provides an upper margin bordering said panels and projecting beyond the upper ends-of said cigarettes, said margin being devoid of any traversing tear-zones, and being folded along the aforesaid tear-zone for the most part down over the upper ends of said cigarettes, the marginal portion bordering a side 10 panel being folded down subsequent to the downfolding of the marginal portions bordering the front and rear panels to provide an integral readily manually-graspable pull-tab, whereby by out- 

